1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to filters disposed in air outlets also referred to as air vents, which includes, vent grilles and air registers and, more particularly, to air vents having blades for controlling the flow of air through an opening and filter material disposed within the air outlets.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
Air outlets, also referred to as air vents, for ducts of ventilation systems, heating and air conditioning, come in many sizes, shapes, and degrees of complexity. Among the types are grilles with fixed blades, grilles with adjustable blades, registers, registers with dampers having opposed rotatable blades and others. Duct air vents are made for mounting on floors, walls, and ceilings. Air outlets are also made for use with ceiling plenums.
Air vents for flush mounting to a wall, floor, or ceiling of an interior space at an opening into the interior space are used to direct airflow into and out of the interior space using fixed angle and/or adjustable angle blades. Some air vents and, in particular, air registers control volumetric airflow through with dampers which are adjustable blades pivotably mounted within a box-like housing or frame of the register. Blades may also be used to direct the direction of the air flow. Some air vents have removable or fixed grilles with fixed or adjustable blades mounted to an outlet of the housing or frame. U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,304 illustrates an air register with adjustable blades.
The use of air filters to remove particulate matter from an airflow is well known. Modern air filters are generally comprised of a filtering media and a support means to provide support to the filtering media. Recent air filtering techniques have included the direct mounting of filtering media to the exterior surface of an air supply or air return air vent such as is found in certain forced air heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Filter grilles available from commercial sources such as Dayus Register and Grille in Windsor, Ontario, Canada provide flat filter material within air vents such as behind grilles of air registers. Dayus is a manufacturer of supply and return grilles.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,354 illustrates a filtering device for use with an air register. The filtering device includes a filter substrate that filters particulate matter from air flowing through it and an adhesive layer disposed in a discontinuous pattern on the filter substrate to permit removable attachment of the filter substrate to the register. WEB Products, Inc. of Kansas City, Kans. offers vent filters that are flat strips made of a self-charging electrostatic material designed to trap dirt, dust, smoke, and pollen size particles when air flows through the filter. The strips are designed to be placed in the bottom or the opening of the air register.
It is desirable to have an inexpensive and highly efficient air filter for use with air vents. Particularly desirable is a filtered air vent that uses available air vents. It is desirable to have an efficient air filter which is easily used in present day construction and retrofitting in existing air cooling and heating forced air ventilation systems which is easily removed and has a washable filter media for use in air cooling and heating systems. It is desirable to have an efficient air vent and filter that is easily accessible for replacement and cleaning by the consumer.
The present invention provides air filters for air filtered grilles and registers to remove particulate matter from an airflow that is very effective and easy to use, install, and clean. The present invention provides such filters that are pleated and, thus, offer more filter area which in turn provides more filtering and better filtering capability in grilles and registers. Air filters for air filtered grilles and registers of the present invention are inexpensive and highly efficient for use in both new and existing air cooling and heating forced air ventilation systems.
A filtered air vent has a housing with an inlet and outlet, at least one set of spaced apart airflow control elements extending across the housing elements, spaces between the elements, and a pleated filter disposed within the housing. In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, the pleated filter includes panels, each two adjoining panels form a pleat, panels are angled apart from each other along pleat lines, and at least a portion of the pleats are disposed across the spaces between the elements. The filter is made from a washable filter material such as, for example, woven polypropylene. The filter has opposite first and second sides of the filter, pleat-lines between each pair of adjoining panels, and an acute angle between each pair of the adjoining panels of each pleat. The acute angles have apexes along the pleat lines. The pleat lines may extend into the filter a portion of a thickness of the filter between the opposite first and second sides forming recesses along the pleat lines that open up to the acute angles. Adjoining ones of the pleat lines may be on opposite ones of the first and second sides. The filter has alternating first and second pleats that open up in opposite first and second directions, respectively.
In a more particular embodiment of the invention, the elements are rotatable blades of a damper disposed within the housing. A face-plate having a central area with openings covers the outlet and the rotatable blades are disposed between the inlet and the outlet. At least one of the rotatable blades is disposed within one of the pleats or in the acute angle between two of the panels in one of the pleats of the pleated filter. The rotatable blades may be disposed at or near the outlet. In another embodiment, the elements are fixed vanes disposed at or near the outlet.